CHICAGO — An officer in the Jefferson Park Police District was released from the hospital and prepared to return to work on Thursday after eating a salad from a neighborhood gyros restaurant that contained pieces of glass, police said.
"I think he was eating it, and he cut his thumb on it, and he noticed something was wrong," according to district Cmdr. Bill Looney. "He went to the hospital, and they ran some tests, and I guess it wasn't that dire, because he's back in the office and doing OK now."
Detectives are investigating the Wednesday afternoon incident, Looney said, adding that the restaurant — Brandy's Gyros at 5777 N. Milwaukee Ave. — is a few blocks from the district station and is a common stop for officers on their lunch breaks.
"Hopefully it was just an accident," Looney said. "But we're following up just to make sure, and to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else — not only for our officers' sake, but for the community's."
After rumors swirled on social media Thursday morning, district lieutenant and two-time aldermanic candidate John Garrido took to Facebook with a post urging followers to "let the investigation run its course before the pitchforks and torches come out."
"While I understand the climate nowadays can make it easy to jump to conclusions ... we should be careful not to destroy a local business based on inaccuracy and rumor," Garrido wrote.
A manager at the the gyro shop confirmed that the incident occurred Wednesday afternoon, but declined to comment further.
